Vigor of Twelve is a play off of the fact that Jesus had twelve disciples. It is a name that helps stress an importance on discipleship. This blog is specifically geared for younger people and mature Christians who don't mind a fresh, bold, and blunt approach to faith. Comments welcome, let's begin the discussion!

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Thursday, March 1, 2012

Acts 7:54-56

The
Sanhedrin hears where Stephen is going with his speech and they are absolutely
enraged by his concluding point.
However, much like when Jesus was before the Sanhedrin, Stephen was able
to focus on God’s glory and not the impending doom that the Sanhedrin had in
store for him. In a final act of
defiance, Stephen declares that he can see the Son of Man, or Jesus, standing
at the right hand of God.

Thoughts for Today:

First Thought:

Anger
is a funny thing. It is often said that
the first thing that anger shuts is the ears.
I mean, it is hard enough to actually listen to another person in the
first place – usually we spend our time planning what we are going to say once
the other person quits talking rather than actually listening to them. But then when we are angry, we have almost no
chance to listen and hear truth! There
can be no doubt why Jesus tells people that if you are angry at your brother
you are already guilty of murder. Once
anger sets in, the conversation is usually over.

How
does anger ruin your life and keep you from hearing the truth like it did to
the Sanhedrin in today’s reading?

Second Thought:

Stephen
is able to look past the worldly consequences.
Now, we can sit back in our easy chair and on our couches and say,
“Well, God certainly doesn’t call all of us to make that ultimate
sacrifice.” But then again, let’s look
at the evidence. Stephen was martyred. Eleven of the original twelve disciples died
violent deaths (1 by suicide and the other 10 as martyrs for their faith). All of the followers of Christ in
Jerusalem were persecuted so much that
everyone but the twelve moved away. Paul
was arrest multiple times, tried multiple times, was beaten multiple times, and
likely eventually killed for his faith.
It seems like God actually does call us to make pretty big
sacrifices. But in order to be able to
do that, we have to learn how to look past the things of the world. We have to learn how to value eternal life
over material life. And that is a step
that is very difficult. That is why
Jesus says that the gate that leads to destruction is wide and the gate that
leads to eternal life is narrow.

Can
you honestly confess to being willing to die for your faith? Although it might seem like a really harsh
question, if you aren’t willing, what might that say about your priorities?

Third Thought:

Stephen’s
nail in the coffin is professing to see Christ at God’s right hand. The one who is at God’s right hand is God’s
Messiah. Stephen is saying that Jesus is
God’s Messiah (I know, that’s really a no-brainer.) But this sets up what comes next. If Stephen is declaring that the Sanhedrin
killed God’s Messiah, then he is claiming that in their zealousness for God
they have sinned. They have sinned
against God when they were convinced that they were upholding God’s ways. It means that either Stephen is wrong – and
thus blaspheming God and needs to die – or they are wrong and need to convert
to what the disciples are teaching. I
think you can see where this is going to go in tomorrow’s reading.

How
often do we do the same thing as the Sanhedrin?
Why is it that rather than admit we are wrong, we get angry and go out
and find other people who agree with us?